Chapter 22
"Tails equal strength," Violet said. "And you take them from other divine kikai. You kill them and rip their tails out. Though only a divine’s original tail is worth transplanting."
"Oh," Lily said, tilting her head.
I winced at the brutal description. "Well, it seems your master collected quite a few." I glanced up at the display that was only in the weapons room.
"The only way to really kill a divine"—Violet took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh—"is to remove their tails. Otherwise, we can heal from almost any wound."
"So you're a bunch of immortal kikai who go around killing each other and taking power. Don't tell me… in the end there can only be one?" I asked dramatically.
That question earned a deep scowl from both women in the room.
"Sorry." I coughed into my hand and glanced away. "Aikari… you were going to talk about the weapons. I think there should be one here for me."
Violet sighed but seemed content to continue browsing herself, stopping before a beam saber that had nine blue tails hanging from the pommel. She took it down, removed the tails, and threw them to the ground.
"Can you not use those tails?" I asked.
"They need to be fresh." Violet shook her head.
"You didn't get back to the part where we talk about how many divines might there be? Hundreds? Thousands?" I asked.
“I am not sure," Violet said, shifting on her feet.
"And the most tails you can have is nine.
There are enough tails for dozens of nine-tailed divines to exist, especially because they're all essentially immortal.
Even if only one divine is born every few years across the entire sector, over time they can certainly collect a fair number of tails. "
I frowned. Given just the tails in this room, there were well over a hundred, which made me think. If only one divine was born every few years, how many years of killing did this room alone represent for her master?
"Oh," I said meaningfully, doing a slow pan of the room again.
"Well, now that the tail’s already wet…" Aikari said, brushing her own off even though they were digital. She flounced over to the weapon rack. "I would recommend this gun for you, Captain." She batted her lashes at me.
I was wondering why she was being so friendly, only for it to occur to me that if Violet was on my ship and this AI ever wanted a home, it was most likely going to be on my ship.
I chuckled and went over to pick up the weapon she'd indicated.
It was an intense-looking, tribally decorated spear in the shape of a rifle.
I went to pick it up, but the second I got it a few inches off the platform, I realized just how heavy the thing was as it sagged in my grip.
I fumbled it, barely managing to land it back on its hook.
"Oh." She winced. "Okay, that one is probably my bad. It was a little heavy; you’re just a human. Let's try something else." She tapped her lips and floated around the room. "Here, this one," she said, pointing urgently at another.
"Is this one also going to be heavy?" I asked, eyeing it dubiously.
"No," the AI answered, hands on her hips. "This one's just fine. Try it. You'll see." She turned her nose up at me, and I was more careful this time, hefting it slowly, pausing after an inch before pulling it off the rack.
Someone had made an unholy combination of a gun and a sword. I glanced at it, then at the AI. "What if I told you I'm not the best when it comes to melee?"
“I would like to confirm you are the captain.” She stared at me as if being bad with a sword would disqualify me.
“I am,” I told her, not appreciating her tone.
Her face shifted back to a sweet smile as she nodded, immediately moving to scan the racks for an appropriate weapon. "Nope, nope, nope, nope," she rang out, one after the other.
Meanwhile, I saw Violet claim what must have been her desired weapon.
It looked like a sword hilt out of a fantasy novel.
It was silver with a massive red gem set in the center—more decorative work on it than I would have expected a practical woman like Violet to gravitate towards.
She flicked the beam saber on, and the blade shape that erupted in orange light was powerful enough that it was singeing the air and giving off the smell of ozone.
Lily's eyes narrowed immediately while staring at the weapon.
"Don't worry. I won't use it on you," Violet said, flicking it off and putting it on her belt. Her ears twitched like she was listening for a reaction.
"How reassuring," Lily said sarcastically.
"Well," Violet said, patting the saber, "this is all I'm interested in. Most of these are powerful but not particularly practical. After all, they’re old."
"No, we have to find a weapon for the captain," Aikari said with wide, urgent eyes.
"You said that you served me now. Why is his weapon so important?" Violet asked.
I chuckled, and Aikari looked over, sighing. "Ah, you already identified my reasoning, haven't you?"
"Yup." I turned to Violet. "If she's a ship's AI, and she wants to wake up again after this"—I pointed at the drive that Violet had set aside when we entered the armory—"she's going to need a ship to put that into."
Violet squinted and then connected the dots. "And you're the captain of the ship where I am part of the crew."
"Exactly," Aikari said, her tails dragging on the floor. "So we have to find a good weapon for the captain so I can impress him… Unless you're romantically involved with him? In that case, I would appreciate it if you could persuade him on my behalf."
Lily bristled, standing up straight from where she'd been inspecting the weapon rack. "She is not romantically involved. I am the captain's, and he is mine.” She staked that claim rather aggressively and spun on Aikari.
Unfortunately, she missed the way Violet’s eyes narrowed dangerously, her tail puffed out and ears pinned back to her skull.
"Oh, well, in that case"—Aikari appeared next to Lily—"what is your preferred weapon?" The AI kikai was all smiles.
"Really?" I asked in disbelief.
"What? This concerns my very survival and all of the information that my previous master spent decades gathering for me.
" The AI crossed her arms. "Now, it's only right that Violet got the Musume, but we can get you another equally good weapon.
And might I say, you look so incredibly strong. What was your name? Lily?"
I could only shake my head. "I think you're going to have to be a little more careful in your attempt to court Lily," I warned the AI.
"Why? Am I not cute enough?" She grabbed her ears with both hands and pulled them down while pouting.
"Please stop acting like this while you look like my master." Violet stomped her foot hard enough to make the room shake. She must have lost control of her strength.
"I can't help it that I look so adorable and like someone you'd want to slot into your best and favorite ship," she said with big, wide eyes.
Violet silenced her by snapping her fingers closed, and the AI's mouth snapped shut.
She was annoying, but she was growing on me like the kind of mold that you couldn't scrub out of your shower until you were well past lightheaded with bleach. I also figured she’d make the ship a little more lively.
"Well, now that we've lost our guide, what weapon should Lily take? And me, for that matter?" I asked, turning to Violet.
"Beyond a few, nothing here is special beyond the fact that it had a divine owner," Violet said, "My master wasn't especially concerned with how effective her weapons were."
"No, not when she was a weapon of mass destruction herself," I said. "Which raises the question. How strong exactly is a nine-tailed divine?"
"Strong enough to alter the flow of even capital-class ship battles," she answered.
I nodded, humming to myself, then frowned. "Wait. Can you fight in space?"
"No." Violet scowled. "My master would use her power to shield the ship."
"Oh," I said, as if that made perfect sense.
I began running some energy calculations in my head.
I knew how much was pulled from a neutron core to power shields and suddenly found myself scowling even deeper.
I hadn't fathomed there was something that could walk around with that much energy potential at its fingertips.
Lily was one thing, but she often fought with mass, using an insane amount of calories to do what she did. Shields were energy. Pure energy.
"And where does that energy come from?" I asked.
"Tails," Violet said, pulling a rifle off the rack and handing it to me. "Here. This will at least be better than your blaster."
"This came from some super divine your master hunted to the ends of the universe?" I grinned.
"No. My master hunted with this when she was younger. It looks to be in good order." Violet frowned.
Then she reached over and grabbed another weapon for Lily. It was a spear whose tip had a large mechanical section just below it.
"Push here. Aim at the wall," Violet said, handing it to Lily, who did as instructed.
The mechanical head whirred, and energy poured into the spear tip before a blast flowed forward. A sustained beam, only about two seconds long, blew a sizable hole in the wall.
I stared at it, then down at my hunting rifle. "Why do you guys get all the cool gadgets?"
Lily hefted the spear-like blaster before putting it back on the rack. "No, I want that." She leveled a finger at the tails that had been hung beside it, a rich pink that nearly matched her eyes.
"You want that? The old tails?" Aikari said, shifting uncomfortably. "Why would you want that?"
Lily had a growing smirk on her face, one that stretched into a feral, dangerous smile. "Because I want to eat it."
"Why would you want to eat it? It's an old, desiccated tail." Aikari coughed into her hand.
Lily was still nothing but grins as she shot me a brief, worrisome smile.
"What are you planning?" I muttered under my breath.